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Jehn F. Goucher 


Education in Systematic Beneficence 


By REV. FRANK W. PADELFORD. 


PUBLISHED BY THE 
MERRIMAC RIVER BAPTIST ASSOCIATION. 


~ 

LoweELt, Mass.: _ 
S : Courter-Citizen Jos Print, 
1899. 


John I*, Goucher 


Education in Systematic Beneficence 


By FRANK W. PADELFORD, 
Pastor of the Portland Street Baptist Church, Haverhill, Mass. 


[A paper read before the Merrimac River Baplist Association, at Haverhill, 
Mass., October 4, 1599.] 


This paper is based upon the principle that the interests of the 
Christian are identical with the interests of Christ. What is of 
utmost concern to him is likewise of the greatest concern to his dis- 
ciple. That the heart of Christ is centered in the interests of the 
Kingdom of Heaven is evident from his words and work. The 
interests of that kingdom then are, or at least ought to be, first or 
all in the heart of his disciple. There can be no difference here, 
since only he that has the spirit of Christ is really his. Everything 
then that concerns the needs and extent of that kingdom is of first 
importance to the Christian. 

A second principle follows upon this. Until every one of 
God’s creatures shall have received the truth, it is the bounden duty 
of every member of Christ’s kingdom, whether a church member or 
not, to give of his time and means for the extension of that kingdom 
among those who have received it not. -Do we need to argue this 
point? Theoretically, no. Apparently, yes.) No member of 
Christ’s kingdom who has himself received the truth, has any right 
to withhold the light from those who are still in darkness. It is no 
more possible for a true member of that kingdom to withhold the 
bread of life from men than for Christ to have withhe!d it from his 
discipies. He had come to do his Father’s will; his Father had 
sent him that he might bear witness to the truth; it was impossi- 
ble for him to contravene that will, and withhold the truth. No 
man sent to complete that mission can contravene that will and 
retain the spirit of Christ. The cry that smote the heart of Jesus 
strikes our ears today. From all quarters of the globe, from pagan 
and civilized hearts alike, that same awful cry is going up in the 
same pitiful tones, “Show us the Father.’ Do you tell me that a 
man possessing the spirit of Christ can be deaf to that cry? If it 
were the duty of the Christ to show men the Father, what shall we 
say of the obligation of those, who through him have received the 
life, to bring that life to others? No one is exempt from this law. 
Not the widow? Not if she possess two mites. Not the man 


4 


involved in debt? His debt to his Lord is as sacred as that to his 
fellows. It was contracted first. No. So long as there is a single 
voice crying in the wilderness no disciple of Christ can be relieved 
from this duty. 


A third principle grows out of these two. It is the duty of 
every Christian, not only to seek for the spread of the kingdom, but 
to do so as God has prosperedhim. This principle is not so readily 
assented to as the former, at least not in practice. But it is true to the 
word of God and the ethics of the kingdom. Very many give; very 
few give as God has prospered them. When a man has an income 
of $1000 and gives $5 for missions and $25 for church expenses, do 
you tell me that he is giving as God has prospered him? That 
would not meet the requirements of the old days of laws and exact- 
ments. What is it to give as God has prospered us? No man can 
tell for his neighbor. But how are we to determine what we should 
give in order to meet the requirements of this principle? Figure 
out first what our expenses must be and then say that we have so 
much left for the Lord? Is that the method? No. First figure 
out how much we must use for the kingdom and then we shall 
know how much we have left to live on. This is the true method. 
One man may be giving as God has prospered him when he has 
given a tenth; another may have to give fifty or seventy-five per 
cent. in order to meet the requirements of this principle. 


Now because these three great principles are not recognized 
and acknowledged by the members of the kingdom there is need 
of education in Systematic Beneficence and Systematic Benevolence. 
For unless there be Systematic Benevolence there can be no such 
thing as Systematic Beneficence. Well willing must go before 
well-doing. Christians must be brought to see that their interests 
are identical with the interests of Christ; that because this king- 
dom has great needs they, as members of the kingdom, are under 
obligation to meet these needs; that so long as these needs exist 
they must meet them as God has prospered them. 


I had supposed that there could be no question, at least in the 
minds of those who understand the needs of the field, of the 
necessity of Systematic Beneficence. But what are we to believe 
when we are informed by a representative of one of our missionary 
societies that Systematic Beneficence is hindering the progress of 
one of the most important branches of our missionary work? I 


5 


cannot believe that our secretaries will stand behind any such state— 
ment as that. But what can we expect to accomplish in producing 
a better spirit and method of beneficence if those representing our 
work are making such statements? They are to be pardoned 
because of their greater interest, due to a wider knowledge of the 
needs of the fields, for thinking that a very large proportion of the 
funds collected should go'into their treasury. But we cannot pardon 
them for making such statements when we are seeking in all pos- 
sible ways to increase the interest of our churches in the work 
which they represent. Ft Be 

Spasmodic giving, giving from mere impulse, giving without 
knowledge of the needs, giving only because forced to, this never 
can conserve the interests of the kingdom. Any giving which 
shall really meet these interests must be regular, constant, intelli- 
gent, willing, and conscientious. Such is Systematic Beneficence. 
This we need and must have. 


Before going further let me inquire what is the main purpose 
which we are to seek in our beneficence? Is it to get by some 
method or other the greatest amount of money out of our churches 
in a certain length of time? Is this the main purpose of beneficence ? 
I should judge so from some of the methods that are adopted and 
some of the motives that are presented. If this is the purpose let 
us have a popular lecture course and a series of entertainments, for 
if these are of the right nature they will net us a good round sum 
of money. I note that some churches have donkey parties and 
charades for increasing the missionary funds of the church. No, 
this is not our main purpose. Iam not going to acknowledge that 
the money raised is the most important part of it, either. The main 
purpose. it seems to me, is so to raise the money that you will not 
only conserve the deepest interests of the kingdom abroad but also 
develop the highest interests of the kingdom at home. Any 
attractive method that may present itself, therefore, will not do. We 
are not to urge our people to give merely for the sake of getting the 
money. Weare to urge it because we know that only as they give 
can they grow, and only as they scatter can they increase. Benef- 
icence is of the highest importance to the church because of its 
relation to growth in grace. Men cannot become Christlike unless 
they have the missionary spirit, that is, the spirit of self-sacrifice. 


This point must be borne in mind in the selection of a plan of 


6 


beneficence, for it must of necessity affect methods. It is true that 
the methods which we must adopt and the educational process 
which we pursue may not turn as much money into the missionary 
treasuries in the very near future as we desire, nor as much as we 
might secure if we pursued other methods. But we are building 
not for a day. We are building for years to come. The great 
thing now is to get our churches developed in the true missionary 
spirit, the Christ spirit, and to secure the establishment of the highest 
methods, and then the day will come when the money will pour 
“in in large amounts and the cause shall triumph. We must beware 
of being impatient, and, because it is quicker, of building on the 
sand rather than on the rock. 

It is not to the point to remark that the time is already at hand 
for greater activity. It certainly is, was long ago. But we are 
bearing the results. of our inheritance. Shall we hand a cursed 
system down to our children as our fathers have to us, simply 
because we want a little larger offering this year? What we need 
is a larger view of the kingdom and the great world conquest. We 
must Jay our plans deeply and wisely. There is a tremendous 
conflict ahead. Our children will know more about it than we. 
We are only on the skirmish line now. The heat of the battle is 
yet before us. 


Now this does not mean that we are not to exert our utmost 
efforts to secure larger offerings. We must do it and do it at once. 
No one would accuse us of holding to any position like that, any 
lying back in the traces and waiting for a better time. I am only 
pleading that our utmost efforts shall be exerted, but that we shall 
be sure that they are in line with the truest methods for the sake of 
the largest development and the greatest success. 


These considerations must of necessity affect our plans of 
education. In regard to the educational process of Systematic 
Beneficence permit me to make the following suggestions :— 


1. Begin with the children. I have little faith that you can 
educate this present generation up to any proper standard of 
beneficence. You cannot teach an old dog new tricks. You cannot 
very often bring an old Christian to put his money into the hand of 
another when he has always hoarded it in his own hand. I am 
aware that nothing is too hard for the Lord. The Holy Spirit can 
come down and re-make even the pocketbook of a Christian of 


7 


many years, and for this reason prayer must form a very important 
part of this educational process. But if you train up a child in 
the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it. 
Therefore, I say, begin with the children. Let the educational 
process begin in the kindergarten... It is no more sensible nor 
just to wait until a child becomes a Christian before you 
teach him to give than it is to wait in order to teach him to 
pray. Doing is as important as praying. The smallest child inthe 
Sunday School ought to be trained to give to missions. It is for 
this reason thit I believe in the Massachusetts Baptist Sunday 
School Chapel Fund. Where adopted it secures from nearly all 
the children the giving of at least two cents per month for direct 
missionary purposes. The Portland Street Sunday School is seeing 
good results from the use of this system, as well as from our regular 
oftering system, where we secure from each member of the school 
a certain pledged offering each Sabbath. It is developing System- 
atic Beneficence among our children. If we can only hold them 
to it we shall have solved the problem in our church 


The children must be shown that giving is the natural thing 
for the Christian. It will be shown to be as mucha part of worship 
to them as anything else. Therefore, I insist that some method 
must be adopted whereby the children shall be taught the great 
privilege and duty of giving for the spread of the gospel. If a 
better method can be devised than the one to which I have referred, 
let us have it at once, for nothing can be more important to educa- 
tion in beneficence than this work among the children. 


To secure interest in this giving and thus make it educational 
it is necessary that the children become familiar with the facts of 
missionary history. For that reason missions must be studied by 
the children. There must be systematic instruction upon the sub- 
ject. The Junior Christian Culture Courses are good as far as they 
go, but they do not begin to meet the need. Such study is too 
superficial. It must go deeper than they go, in order to accomplish 
the end. There must be study of missions in the Sunday School. 
It must be a study of modern missions, too. It will not do to reply 
that children are now instructed in missions because they study 
about the missionary journeys of Paul. Those are too far distant. 
To the young minds and to many that are older Paul’s missions and 
modern missions are very distinctly different things. At least once 


8 


a quarter, I wish that it might be oftener, there should be a regular 
lesson on modern missions. This should take the place of the Bible 
lesson. For this there should be regular lessons prepared and 
issued with the quarterlies and bound up with the other lessons. 
Let such lessons take the place of the ordinarily profitless review 
lessons. They would then seem a real part of the work. I 
should suggest that they be arranged with slightly more regard 
to order and propriety than our present International lessons. 
We ought to compel our Publication Society to prepare these 
lessons for us. If you will teach these young hearts some of the 
inspiring things in the modern missionary history you will soon have 
a generation of givers. Let our Associational Commission see that 
something is done in this direction at once. 


But we cannot confine our educational work to the children. 
The present generation needs the gospel as well as the age to come, 
and our church members of today need the sanctifying influence of 
beneficence as much as the members of tomorrow. It is never too 
late to mend, though we may not succeed in making them all over. 
But they must receive of our best efforts. 

My second point is this :— 


2. Base your educational work on the highest motive. 


In the long run very little is ever gained from the presentation 
of secondary motives. Nothing but the highest motives conserve 
the highest ends. In nothing is this more true than in the work of 
the kingdom. If you wish to produce the truest piety and secure 
the largest offerings in the énd, you cannot afford to appeal to people 
from anything but the very highest motive. By reason of the state 
of the human heart it may be possible to secure a larger collection 
for missions next Sunday by setting forth some secondary motive. 
But ten years from now your offerings will be no larger and the 
missionary spirit of your church will be far lower. Shall we stoop 
to urge our people to give more for missions because the Presby- 
terian denomination is doing better than we? Shall the minister’ 
say that because our missionary work has been prospered better 
than that of other churches, therefore we must give more and keep 
ahead ? If God in his infinite mercy has prospered our work as he 
has not that of others, it ought to make us very humble and inspire 
us to nobler service, but this is not the true motive in missions. 
Shall the Sunday School superintendent declare that his school has 


done better than any other and that it must not lose its record ? Or 
shall we be urged to give for fear that some other denomination will 
get ahead of us? Are these true motives ? Can we afford to pre- 
sent these as the motives for gifts to the work of the kingdom ? I 
say, most emphatically, No. These motives may answer for driving 
people to give, but you can not educate them in true benevolence in 
that way. There is only one motive that we can afford to urge, that 
we have a right to urge, and that is the highest motive. Do you 
question what that is? The love of Jesus Christ and the love which 
that love merits in return. This is the great motive in missions. 
This is the only true motive. 


This is a motive worthy of appeal. When men come to see and 
feel that love, realize that what they are and hope to be they owe 
entirely to the love of Christ, when they see and feel that, then their 
hearts will warm with love for the cause for which he gave his life. 
But not before. You can not secure real giving until you bring men 
into touch with that heart of love and their own hearts become 
inflamed with the same love. If you want money for missions make 
men feel that love of Christ. Lead them to see also that that love 
which they have felt was shed abroad for those now in the darkness as 
much as for those who have received the light. Make men see that 
Christ loves these less fortunate with the same love with which he 
loved them, and that he is as anxious for their salvation as for those 
who now know him. Get men to see that the love of Christ has 
made all men members of a great brotherhood and that any true love 
for Christ will manifest itself in love for those whom Christ loves. 
Present the needs of the fields? Of course you will, as strongly as 
God enables you, but impress upon men that those who need are 
those for whom Christ in his infinite love gave his life. When you 
can bring men to feel this they will put into that pierced hand all 
the money he needs for the spread of his kingdom. 


When men come to feel the power of this motive and give 
accordingly they will gladly bring their offering untothe Lord. The 
church will not be turned into a dentist’s office when the collection 
for missions is taken. Gladly and with praise men will bring of their 
first fruits unto the Lord. Let us sing the Doxology hereafter when 
we have had the privilege of completing our worship by making our 
offerings unto the Lord. Giving that is not cheerful is not for the 
glory of God. One great reason that our beneficence is on sucha 


10 


low plane today is that we have largely neglected this great motive 
and used appeals which we thought would bring in larger imme- 
diate results, but we are suffering today -from the presentation of 
those motives. 


Brethren, when you appeal to men for the work of the kingdom, 
appeal to them from the love of Christ, that wonderful love whose 
height and depth men have never fathomed, that love which passeth 
all understanding. 


In the third place we should distinctly set before our people :— 


3. The intimate and dependent relation of beneficence to 
growth in grace. A study of the New Testament regarding this 
particular point will astonish you by reason of the number of refer- 
ences you will find to it. We are given many directions for the 
attainment of this end, but none is more clearly emphasized than this. 
Which is the more important, prayer or beneficence? I should not 
undertake to say. But this 1 know: if prayer be not followed by 
beneficence the prayer has not been true; there has been no prayer. 


The gospel does not consist alone of ‘‘come ye.” There is 
another part equally as important It is ‘‘go ye.” This last com- 
mand was made most sacred by the circumstances of its utterance. 
The church has spent the larger part of nineteen hundred years dis- 
cussing the meaning and philosophy of this first command. But 
we have given very little time or thought to the second. Men self- 
ishly listen to the word “come ye,” but selfishness is supposed to 
disappear when we obey that call. Buta lingering selfishness often 
prevents our hearing the second at all. Christ utters the call that 
he may give the. command, and no one has really obeyed the 
call who cannot hear and does not obey the command. A 
man cannot be Christlike until he has the missionary spirit, 
which is the spirit of Christ. It is useless for a man to hope to 
become truly Christlike who is unwilling to put the needs of others 
above his own. There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it 
tendeth only to poverty of spirit and life. 


Any pastor who neglects the use of this means to the develop- 
ment of his church life will certainly fail. He may preach all he 
wants, but if he does not teach his people to practise he fails utterly. 
What right have we to limit the instruction’ when we are com- 
manded ‘* to teach the disciples to observe @// things ” which Christ 
has commanded. We may not all agree in some of the methods of 


11 


some of our organizations, but we are not giving to organiza- 
tions. We are giving to the spread of Christ’s gospel. What right 
have we to stultify the growth of our people, merely because some 
methods of distribution do not suit us ? The pastor who does this 
is neglecting his people’s development and failing of his mission. 
Some ministers in our churches are saying that they cannot present 
missions earnestly to their people because their churches are not 
raising enough to pay their salaries. I do not wonder that those . 
churches are starving their ministers. A minister who is selfish 
enough to take such a position as this desérves to starve. He is 
starving his people. It is only reciprocity. 

As a fourth suggestion regarding Education in Systematic 
Giving :— : 


4. There must be more thorough instruction regarding the 
conditions and needs. Members of our churches are wofully igno- 
rant of the conditions of our missionary work. They are much 
better acquainted with the work of Otis and his soldiers than with the 
work of the soldiers of the Cross. Before we secure adequate giv- 
ing we must change these conditions. Men are-not expected to turn 
their money-into a hole in the ground or what is no more real to 
them than that. To secure intelligent, conscientious giving, we must 
see that our members are thoroughly acquainted with the needs of 
the fields. The information in our papers is very scanty, and many 
of our families never see a Baptist paper. Many of them are much 
better acquainted with the Christian Herald than they are with the 
Watchman or the Missionary Magazine. The burden of this 
instruction must necessarily rest with the pastor and officers of the 
church. They must keep the people informed constantly on mis- 
sionary activity. I cannot believe that if the members of our 
churches really knew the exact conditions they would allow our 
work to suffer as they do. How many of our members yet know 
of the great loss to our work in Burmah by the recent death of Mr. 
Price ? Or how many know that this morning, before this confer- 
ence opened there sailed from Boston a band of eighteen conse- 
crated men and women who are looking to their Baptist brethren 
for support and help, as they go to represent them in the darkness 
of the world? How many of them know of the heroic departure 
of our beloved Dr. Bunker, scarcely able to live a few years in this 
country, going back to India today to his last work and to his cer- 


12 


tain near death, because a lone tribe away up in India has sent and 
begged him to come and bring them the gospel ? When you bring 
such facts as these to your people’s hearts times will change. 

It will not do to preach an annual or semi-annual sermon on 
missions. This is not sufficient. The missionary concert, frequent 
missionary addresses, visits from missionaries and workers, all these 
must be in constant use. The pastor should use his earnest efforts 
to secure a large subscription to the missionary papers and magazines. 
The missionary preludes are very helpful in this direction. Three or 
four minutes given each Sunday morning to the presentation of 
some important bit of news concerning missionary work cannot be 
better spent. This constant presentation will keep people inter- 
ested. In some way people must become posted, and when they 
see the needs we shall receive the money. Nothing can be more 
important than this constant instruction. 

A fifth point. :— 


5. Choose the best possible plan. 


‘¢ The good is the enemy of the best,” as the sage has said. 
There are several good plans if you do not insist on putting too much 
into the word good. For each church there is only one best plan. 
What may be best in Haverhill may not be best in Lowell. I do 
not advocate frequent change or trial. But the officers of every 
church should carefully consider conditions and plans and adopt the 
best one for the situation. A good one will not do. It is opposed to 
your best interests. 

The plan of securing subscriptions for missions at the begin- 
ning of the year, the total amounts to be distributed according to 
an agreed proportion and the offerings to be brought in each 
Sunday, has worked admirably in the Portland Street Church. It 
secures regular giving and tends-to increase conscientious giving, 
for each one has to decide how much he can afford to give. 

For some churches the plan of dividing the year into periods, 
each period devoted to one particular object and presented at the 
proper time, may be better. I should insist, however, that that plan 
is not good unless the offerings- are’ brought in every week. I 
believe in the constant attention to the matter. 

My sixth and last point is this :— 


6. Allow nothing to break the continuity. 


13 


There is nothing so injurious to the educational process as 
interruption. The time has come when we must insist upon this. 
When once the special objects for which our offerings for a certain 
period are decided upon, no special appeals should be allowed to 
come concerning other objects. It only hinders our work to allow 
appeals from independent objects to come before us. Attention is 
diverted. We may permit men representing other missionary 
objects once in a while to present their work before the people, but 
seldom, if ever, allow them to take an offering. It cannot but hinder 
our own work. It is not that we are not interested in other objects, 
but we have a great end to attain and we cannot permit anything 
to detract our attention and interest from it. We should have mis- 
sionaries and other workers.come and present the conditions and 
needs of different fields, but in no case allow them to ask for a 
collection. They have performed their mission when they have set 
the work before us. 


For these very reasons it may be best to adopt the periodic 
plan for beneficence and then we can give one period to miscella- 
neous objects. 


Moreover, our own regular missionary organizations should 
not be permitted to set apart special days and make special appeals 
for their own work. None complain more than. they at these 
indiscriminate requests from outsiders. They should take their own 
advice and not hinder the development of our own work in our 
churches. They may present the special needs if they wish; they 
should do so. But they have no right to ask for special offerings. 
The denomination must rise against this injurious custom. I can 
understand why they are so anxious for more money. Would to 
God that we were all as anxious as they. But the church must not 
plan for the day alone, not for one organization alone. I say most 
emphatically, this thing must cease if we are to have any develop- 
ment in our benevolence. The burden of putting the stop to it 
rests upon the individual churches. We must take a firmer stand. 


An officer of one of our missionary societies goes to one of 
our churches which has not given a cent for the sending of the 
gospel to our Lord’s brethren for years. After his address they 
pass the hat and give him a small collection. Shall he take it? 
No! a thousand times No!  I’d throw it to the floor. They 
shall not purchase peace to their souls in any such manner as this 


14 


when thousands of their fellowmen are crying in the agony of their 
hearts, ‘* Show us the Father.” 


Brethren, we must insist that neither from outsiders nor from 
our own organizations shall interruptions come to hinder our work 
of educating people in this greatest of Christian graces. 


I make these six suggestions, not as covering the whole ground, 
but as indicating what I believe to be some important considerations 
in the educational process of Systematic Beneficence. Others may 
be equally as important. These to me seem indispensable. 


